ABSTRACT
The strongest criticism of modernity comes, of course, from Mahatma Gandhi in Hind Swaraj (1909), though none of India’s major thinkers accept it at face value. For Sri Aurobindo, the whole movement of modern European thought may be understood as a recurring cycle of elevating rationality and then descending into irrationalism after its failure. Thus various expressions of post-modern agonistics, in their very cry for total emancipation, often end up legitimating relativistism and irrationality, if not irresponsibility. Both modernity and post-modernity, if taken seriously, will reveal themselves to be quite at variance with India’s civilizational disposition. At most they can challenge our understanding of reality, but usually their impact is restricted to supplying us new and interesting styles, fashions and figures of speech. Instead, svaraj, as I have consistently argued, is what we seek. ‘Svaraj’ is another word for enlightenment, not just for political emancipation. Svaraj also means self-restraint, forbearance and refusal to rule over others. Svaraj is thus a political philosophy, which comes from a deep spiritual ideal, resurrected during India’s freedom struggle, defined and redeployed by Indian heroes like Gandhi and Aurobindo.
